Garment-fitting device.



M. M. JOHNSON.

GARMENT FITTING DEVICE. .PPL10ATION FILED MAY 13, 1908.

' 91 1,046, Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

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GARMENT FITTING DEVICE.

APPLIOATIONIILED MAY 13, 1908.

91 1,046. v Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

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7 To all whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARY M. JOHNSON, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR TO I IILIAN F. JOHNSON, OF

JEFFERSON, TEXAS.

GARMENT-FITTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

Be it known that I, MARY M. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Garment-Fitting Device, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to garment fitting devices and is an improvement upon the garment fitting device forming the subject matter of an application filed by me on February 11, 1908, under Ser. No. 415,409. The invention forming the subject matter of the said prior application comprises a series of flexible tapes or bands with means for holding such tapes together so that they could be moved in either direction one relative to the other and these tapes are made up into separable sections so that with one section a waist, or coat, or gown and other like garments may be fitted to the person, while another section is provided whereby the skirts may be fitted, both sections cooperating so that one section, say the waist section, may be fitted to onehalf or side of I the body of a person, while the other section, say the skirt section, is fitted to the. other half of the person'being fitted. With the structure of the aforesaid application provision is made for, temporarily uniting the several sections during the operation of fitting and afterwards the sections are readily separated for plotting of the cloth for the garment or garments to be made therefrom Without 1n any manner disturbing the relation of the several bands ortapes. With the garment fitting device of the aforesaid application some difiiculty is experienced in laying out the garment on the cloth from the tape because of the natural flexibility of such tape. x

It is the object of the present invention to overcome this difiiculty by providing the garment fitting sections forming the subject matter of the aforesaid application with cross tapes or stays which fix or hold, every point of the pattern outlining tapes in their proper position when the tapes are removed from the person being fitted and arelaid out on the cloth to produce the pattern outline.

Considering the tapes constituting the pattern sections "as placed upon the body of the person being fitted,-there are two sets of' tapes which for convenience may be desi'g-. nated as horizontal and vertical tapes. The.

horizontal tape encircles either wholly or partially the body ofthe wearer, while the vertical tape indicates the seams in the garmentr Wherever the tapes are arranged to outline the seam lines of the garment the edges corresponding-to the seams are pro-" vided with seam lndicatlons, such as a col-' oredthread woven in the tape at the seam indicating edge, or any other means may be- 'When the garment fitting device is re-,

used for this purpose.

but with this invention no particular care is necessary, since the stay or cross tapes WhlGh' are arranged diagonally with referenceto the horizontal and vertical tapes automatically determine the proper relation of the otherparts of the pattern when one of the tapes has been properly located.

The present invention will be best under- ,stoodfroma consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part ofthis specification, in which drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of a garment fitting device including the present invention as applied to the body of a person being fitted. Fig. 2 is a view of a garment fitting section removed from the body ofthe person being fitted. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views on a larger scale than the other views of the means employed for the adjusting and clamping of the ta e in position.

In the garment 'tting device shown in the aforesaid application there are a number of horizontal tapes extending entirely around. the body of the. person to be fitted. These horizontal tapes comprise the neck tape 1,'

the bust tape 2, and under-bust tape 3, the

waisttape 4 and under-waist tape 5, and a hip tape 6. There are also provided-other horizontal tapes not intended .to extend entirely around the body andthese are designated the chest and back tapes and are shown'at 7 and 8, respectively.

The vertical tapes comprise a front tape 9, a back tape 10, a middle front tape 11, a dart tape 12 and under arm tape 13, a double under arm tape 14, and a middle back tape ,15. All the vertical tapes extend downto the waist, and hip horizontal tapes, and all are likewise connected to the bust and underbust tape. The front and back tapes 9 and 10 are the only ones of the vertical tapes which are connected directly to the neck band 1. The chest and back tapes 7 and 8 are each connected to the tape 16 designed to indicate the eye of the arm and this arm eye tape is likewise connected to two shoulder tapes 17 and 18.

The skirt section, of which only the upper portion is shown in Fig. 1, is made up of a number of vertical tapes 19 connected to the waist, under-waist, and hip bands, which latter may be made of two parts, so that the skirt section may be separated from the waist section. At the intersection of the several horizontal and vertical bands there are provided two way buckles 20, each having a single clamp lever 21, so that the tapes may be relatively adjusted and then clamped in their readjusted position by one move ment of the lever 21. Furthermore, all those tapes which are designed to indicate the positions of the seams, are provided with one edge characteristically differentiated from the other edge so as to readily designate the positions of the seam lines. This characteristic designation for seam lines is indicated in the drawings by the reference numeral 22 and is shown by a dotted line on one edge of certain of the tapes.

When a garment fitting section is removed from the body of a wearer it is laid down upon a piece of cloth or other material from which the garment or a pattern is to be cut, the garment fitting sections being used for the purpose of plotting such a garment or pattern. When laying out the pattern sections on the cloth the tapes are secured in place by a thumb tack 23 or any other suitable means. Because of the flexibility of the sections of the tape the pattern is easily distorted unless great care be taken in laying out the tapes upon the cloth with the tapes drawn taut and not displaced laterally.

In order to facilitate the laying out of the pattern upon the cloth, there are provided other tapes 24, which when the garment fitting device is being adjusted to the person of the wearer are also clamped by the buckles 20 and are arranged diagonally from one vertical or horizontal tape to another, so as to operate as a stay tape and thus pevent distortion of the garment fitting device after being removed from the person of the wearer and laid out on the cloth from which the garment is to be cut.

The spaces then closed by the tapes are all substantially quadrangular in outline and the extra tape 24 extends across these spaces from one angle to the diagonally opposite angle and if two tapes be used for each quadrangle connecting the directly opposite angles, then the pattern may be laid out on the cloth with absolute certainty of avoiding distortion and without the exercise of any special skill. The extra tapes 24 are, of course, adjusted while the garment fitting device is upon the body of the person being fitted and consequently the relation of the angles of the quadrangles is thereby fixed before the garment fitting device is removed from the person of the wearer and this relation is faith fully maintained when the garment fitting device is laid upon the cloth and secured thereon for the purpose of cutting the garment.

The tapes 24 are of flexible inextensible material and their free ends beyond. the buckle 20 are encircled by buttons or stop pieces 25 so that these ends cannot be withdrawn through the buckle and the tapes 24- become thereby disconnected and possibly lost. In the drawings but a few of these extra or stay tapes are shown, but it will be understood that as many may be employed in the embodiment of the invention as may be found necessary. Under some conditions but a single tape for each rectangle is needed, but under other conditions two crossed tapes are necessary. In the present invention not only are the sides of each quadrangle determined by the adjustment of the vertical and horizontal tapes, but the diagonals of; each quadrangle are likewise fixed. hen, therefore, the garment fitting dex ice has once been adjusted to the person of the party to be measured, the several tapes though. normally flexible in all directions are readily placed upon the cloth in exact conformity with their position upon the body of the person being fitted and this readiness with which the garment fitting device may be placed upon and adjusted on the cloth is due to the extra band or tape 24 which determines the diagonals ol' the several quadrangles described by the vertical and horizontal tapes of the garment fitting device.

While in the foregoing description and in the drawing the application of the invention is confined to a specific type of garment fitting devices, namely, a fitting device for womens garments, it is to be understood that the invention is equally applicable to garment fitting devices for men and children.

What is claimed is 1. A garment fitting device comprising a series of horizontal bands or tapes, a series of vertical bands or tapes, the several bands or tapes being flexible in all directions and the several members of the two series of bands intersecting, stay or cross tapes extending diagonally with relation to the horizontal and vertical tapes, and also flexible in all directions, and clamp buckles embracing all the tapes at their intersections, each buckle being provided with a single clamp member to secure all the tapes together at one operation and through whiclrbuckles all the vertical, horizontal and diagonal tapes are slidably adjustable.

2. A garment fitting device coinprisinga series of horizontal flexible bands or tapes, a series of vertical flexible bands or tapes, the tapes being flexible in all directions, means for adjustably securing the tapes at their in tersecting points, and diagonally disposed stay or cross tapes also flexible in all directions and secured to the horizontal and ver-.

tical tapes at their intersecting points, said stay tapes being rovided with stop pieces or buttons encirc ing the stay tapes at the free ends thereof and serving to prevent their escape from said fastening means.

3. A garment fitting device comprising a series of horizontal bands or tapes, a series of vertical bands or tapes, the several members of the two series of tapes intersecting,

a ing points of the two series of tapes, and stay tapes extending diagonally with relation to the horizontal and vertical tapes and adapted to be clamped by the buckles at the intersecting points of the other tapes, said stay tapes being flexible in all directions and provided at their free ends with means for preventing their escape from the clamp buckles when the latter are loosened, said last named means being independent of the clamp buckles.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

MARY M. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

FLORENCE, E. J OHNSON, EMILY L. JoHNsoN. 

